Chapter 40

“A union between a paladin and a vampire?”

“Half-Daint, half-Demon?”

Hearing Laite’s answer, Harlen forgot how to breathe. He almost left this beautiful world.

“Then why can’t I feel your vampire presence?”

Harlen looked at him questioningly.

Laite just smiled, then lifted his left hand and removed the ring from his ring finger.

The moment the ring left his finger, a powerful vampire aura erupted from his body. Two seconds later, he slipped it back on and the aura was hidden once more.

“This ring can help me hide my aura. My vampire father left it for me.”

“It was also because this ring hides my aura that I can move freely in the human world without being discovered. I also successfully completed my mother’s wish and became a Paladin.”

Laite started to expose his own secrets, revealing his family matters to Harlen.

Laite didn’t know why, but he instinctively felt that the Harlen in front of him was someone he felt he could trust. He had felt that way since the beginning when they met at the bar, thus he had blown his own cover to tell Harlen about his family.

“Oh, right. I still don’t know your name.”

“Harlen.”

“I’m Harlen Brook.”

Faced with his question, Harlen replied simply without any intention to hide.

“Harlen… that’s a good name.”

Laite turned on the TV and tuned it to the channel that was playing his show. He then went to the fridge and pulled out a large bottle of Coke and set it on the coffee table. Then he walked over to the food cabinet and grabbed a couple of large bags of chips, fries, cookies, and spicy strips before setting them on the coffee table.

After all the food and drinks had been prepared, Laite sat back on the sofa and took out two cups. He filled each cup with Coke and then brought one to the coffee table in front of Harlen.

“Drink it.”

“Come have something to eat and watch a television drama. Have a good rest.”

Harlen didn’t refuse. After all, he had been feeling hungry for a long time, and it was time to eat something to replenish his hunger.

Laite and Harlen lay on the couch, eating snacks and drinking Coke. They chatted leisurely for about an hour.

Harlen went all out. After all, it had been a year since he had touched these snacks, thus Harlen had to eat to his heart’s content.

But on the surface, Harlen appeared to be eating happily, but inside he was panicking. He seemed to have forgotten something important, but he couldn’t remember it.

It was only when a voice blasted so loud in his mind that it hurt his head, a voice that scared Harlen so much that he tumbled to the ground, that he finally remembered what he had forgotten.

“Brother! Har! Len!”

“Where the hell have you been?!”

It’s over! I forgot about Mary!

Mary’s delicate voice was now shrilling in Harlen’s head.

Harlen, who had tumbled to the ground in shock, kept coughing out the cola he had not managed to swallow. Laite saw this and quickly handed him a tissue.

Harlen took the tissue and used a portion to wipe the Coke from his mouth. The rest was used to mop up the Coke from the floor.

“I’m sorry, Laite, I didn’t mean to do this. I choked on my Coke and I couldn’t remain still.”

Harlen apologized as he wiped the Coke off the floor.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s a little dangerous to lie down and drink coke. Be careful next time.”

Laite picked up a couple of napkins as well joined Harlen to wipe off the spilled Coke.

Before long, the ground had been wiped dry, and the bin was filled with Coke filled tissue.

Harlen then stood up and told Laite that he had some unfinished business to attend to, thus he needed to hurry back.

After hearing this, Laite did not try to keep Harlen longer, but instead directly used a space teleportation spell to send Harlen back.

He also taught Harlen how to come to this castle, telling him to drop by for a chat whenever he was free.

Harlen waved to him in thanks before stepping into the circle of light and disappearing.

On the other side, in one of the deserted alleys of Saint Calloran’s streets, a dark red circle of light suddenly appeared, and Harlen stepped out.

“I have to rush back. Mary hasn’t eaten yet.”

Harlen sped out of the dark alley and headed for the hotel they were staying in.

“Candied hawthorns! Delicious, sweet, sweet candied hawthorns!”

As Harlen passed a booth selling candied hawthorn, it occurred to him that he had also promised Mary he would bring her some when he returned.

Harlen headed toward the store. After buying three skewers of the candy from the owner, he raced toward the hotel.

At this moment, in the hotel, Mary was walking around in the living room in a rage. The two bats that Harlen left behind to protect Mary and the eagle-eyed bat that he sent out to find the hotel had flown back. The three bats were standing quietly on the table, their eyes following Mary who was walking around the living room, looking left and right like a pendulum clock.

“Knock, knock, knock!” Someone suddenly knocked on the door.

Mary, who was walking around in a rage, rushed over as soon as she heard someone knock on the door.

Just as her hand was on the doorknob, ready to turn the knob and open the door, she remembered what Harlen had said about not opening the door to anyone for fear the bad guys would break in.

Mary released her hand from the doorknob and took a few steps back before shouting.

“Who is it!”

Mary shouted very loudly, as if she wanted to use her voice to startle the people outside the front door. She wanted to give the impression to the people outside that there was a very rude person in the room and that she was not to be trifled with.

But now Mary was a frail, malnourished girl. No matter how loud she tried to be, it was akin to a kitten trying to roar.

“It’s me, Mary.”

A reply came from outside the door.

When she recognized the voice, she happily ran to open the door.

“Brother Harlen, you’re finally back.”

Harlen touched Mary’s head, closed the front door, and led her back into the living room.

“Look, what is this?”

Harlen brought out the three skewers of candied hawthorns hidden behind him in front of Mary.

“Wow. It’s candy, and there’s even three skewers. Thanks, Brother Harlen.”

Mary took the candied fruit and quickly tore the paper off one of the skewers and ate it ravenously.

Seeing that Mary was happily eating her candied hawthorn, Harlen sighed with relief and leaned back on the sofa.

‘It’s a good thing Mary didn’t cry or make a scene, or it would be a real pain in the ass.’

Harlen, who was leaning against the sofa, suddenly realized that the bin beside the sofa was full of leftover fruit cores.

Harlen got up and went to the fridge. He opened the door and found that the more than ten apples, three bananas, four pears, and a bunch of grapes placed within were all missing.

Harlen closed the refrigerator door, and when he looked back, he saw that the fruit on the dining room table was gone, too. Then he thought again of the leftover fruit cores in the trash bin beside the couch. His heart overflowed with self-loathing. He had eaten well and drank well at Laite’s house, but he had left Mary alone, starving.

Mary really ate everything she could eat at home. She must have been really starving.

“Gulu gulu~”

Mary, who was happily eating the candied haws, suddenly heard her stomach rumble.

She immediately blushed and turned around, facing away from Harlen, before continuing to eat.

When Harlen saw this, he gave a faint laugh. He went up to Mary, held her hand and spoke in an apologetic tone.

“Come, let’s go eat..”